Workhorse CEO calls Lordstown effort a "win-win"

The CEO of an electric vehicle manufacturer says its association with a company working on plans to build an electric pickup truck at the idled GM Lordstown plant a “win-win” combination.

Wednesday, August 7th 2019, 6:40 AM EDT by Mike Gauntner

Updated:

Wednesday, August 7th 2019, 9:16 AM EDT

The CEO of an electric vehicle manufacturer says its association with a company working on plans to build an electric pickup truck at the idled GM Lordstown plant a “win-win” combination.

The proclamation came from CEO and director of Workhorse, Duane Hughes, during Tuesday's earnings call in which the company reported a $37 million loss during the past three months, and sales of only $6,000, down $171,000 from one year ago.

Hughes took time during the call to address what he called “the elephant in the room,” the formulation of Lordstown Motors Company by Workhorse founder and former CEO, Steve Burns.

General Motors announced in May that it was in negotiations with Burns to purchase the Lordstown facility to manufacture a version of Workhorses' W-15 electric pickup truck.

The idea received national media attention last week when Vice-President Mike Pence announced that enough money had been raised to move forward with the Lordstown plant. It was later learned that Pence was mistaken.

As a minority investor in Lordstown Motors, Hughes hopes his company's association with LMC will help Workhorse win a contract for the next-generation U.S. Postal Service vehicle.

“From the beginning, we viewed what we'll call as access to the Lordstown facility as a potential competitive advantage to further enable us to win the postal service contract, primarily just because of its size and so on, its ability to push through vehicles out of that plant. Not to mention, they've got 50-plus years of experience on how to build vehicles in that facility,” said Hughes.

Half a dozen companies are vying for the postal vehicle contract. Hughes said the postal vehicle would be built at the Workhorse facility in Indiana.

Hughes said that earlier thoughts about the feasibility of an all-electric pickup truck are even more valid today. “We believe that combining our IP with the historic GM Lordstown facility will provide Workhorse with the greatest benefit in monetizing its pickup truck technology. In the end, we believe this will be the proverbial win-win,” said Hughes.

After meeting with Workhorse officials in Cincinnati last week, State Senator Sean O'Brien told 21 News he is cautiously optimistic about Lordstown Motor Company's prospects.

A GM spokesperson has said that progress is being made in talks with LMC.

Meanwhile, negotiations continue between GM and the UAW in Detroit on a new national contract which the union has said includes a proposal to find a new General Motors product for Lordstown and other plants idled by the automaker.